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Ok, so for story reasons I am trying to do a Magus-Necromancer build, but I don't want to nerf myself too much.
In Carrion Crown my Magus has become fascinated with Splatterman's spellbook. The curse is done, but we're maintaining some fascination for story reasons. We also have some Cthulhu-esque insanity kicking in (his low Wisdom is killing me here!) and Eronel the ghost raven is now a permanent familiar for him. He's been obsessively studying the Splatterman book, the Whispering Way, and other books in the Lorimer library.
The DM is also letting me develop spells that make sense for the story, and may lead to some party uneasiness. For instance, the magus now believes there is truth in the "there is power in a name", so he has developed a version of Infernal Healing that requires him to take blood from the person he's healing and, writing with this blood, fill a page of parchment or as much writing on the person he's healing to cast the spell.
... in Short, he's a second level Magus, and taking a level of Wizard with necromancy school. Might be his only level, but maybe some advice here will change that idea. Each time he takes a level of necromancy he will take a step towards neutral evil as he begins to empathize with the whispering way.
He's your standard shocking-grasp focused Magus
Str:15
Dex:12
Con: 10
Int: 19
Wis: 8
Cha: 10
Feats: Arcane Strike, Combat Casting
Traits: Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp), Jenivere Crew (Acrobatics)
(The reason he has Jenivere Crew is I thought I was playing Serpant's Skull and made a character for that, then discovered I was playing Carrion Crown instead, so I just went with him getting called to the funeral just before the boat leaves for the Serpant's Skull events!)
Clearly not max-min'ing here, but again I don't want to nerf him too badly, and what I really like in a character is having interesting choices each round while also being somewhat effective.
Advice in builds?
And no spoilers please, I just finished the first module of the AP!
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He's becoming obsessed with necromancy and the whispering way.
... specifically he was cursed and obsessed with the Splatterman's Spellbook and started to believe that there IS power in a person's name that could be used magically. The curse is lifted but the obsession remains as a character/story choice. He is taking a step towards the dark side of necromancy and the whispering way (Hopefully, in the characters mind, not continuing down this path, but if it makes sense then so be it). Spells and flavor that might lead to him following the Whispering Way, wanting to become a lich, wanting to control or create undead. The DM and I have talked and maybe at some point he goes too far, becomes an NPC and returns in a later AP as a lich or some other big bad. I am happy to follow the story wherever it leads!
The DM was happy to let Eronel follow as a familiar in any case, so I'm not worried about meeting the req's to get a familiar either.
He also keeps taking sanity hits (though through restoration has corrected that).
The flavor I was taking by wizard necromancer was ...
Splatterman's spell book was going to be his necromancer/wizard spellbook. Necromancy spells were going to be the focus for his wizardness. The flavor would be things like him using spells such as Restore Corps on a found skeleton, or commanding undead. Stuff that would make sane people uneasy (without being outright evil)
The magus can get a spell or two from the wizard list through Spell Blending, but it seems like it's less of a hit to take a level of Necro and gain 3 0-level and 3-1st level spells than to give up an arcana for the flavor.
So yes, maybe, you're right, the way to go may be to just use the spell designing rules and have at it ...
So then ... what flavor ideas can this board provide, and/or is there any benefit/value to the necromancer level?
Edit: I'm seeing now that the benefit of the necromancer level may be the three 0-level and 1st-level spells to "blow" on flavor. That way I would not be wasting daily slots on "Restore Corpse" that I would rather be used for something like shocking grasp.